The Last Days of Pompeii
06/05/1984
This seven-hour British-Italian adaptation of Edward Bulwer-Lytton's 1834 epic, set against the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. and previously filmed in 1935, and in 1960 was a vehicle for muscleman Steve Reeves, was trashed by the critics as the campiest of sword and sandal sagas to emerge in years. This despite its reported $19-million price tag, the nobility of its cast that includes Laurence Olivier, Siobhan McKenna and Anthony Quayle, and its rather unspectacular special effects. The central figures are Nicholas Clay as Glaucus, the noble Athenian; Olivia Hussey as the high-born Ione, his love, who is seduced by the Egyptian, Arbaces (Franco Nero), a religious fanatic; Duncan Regehr as Lydon, the champion gladiator; and Linda Purl as the blind slave Nydia, who is torn between Glaucus and Lydon.
TV Show Information
Linda Purl
as Nydia
Anthony Quayle
as Quintus
Duncan Regehr
as Lydon
Laurence Olivier
as Gaius
Benedict Taylor
as Antonius
Gerry Sundquist
as Clodius
Catriona MacColl
as Julia
Malcolm Jamieson
as Petrus
Tony Anholt
as Lepidus
David Robb
as Sallust
Stephen Greif
as Sporus
Peter Cellier
as Calenus
Barry Stokes
as Gar
Howard Lang
as Medon
Joyce Blair
as Lucretia
Francesca Romana Coluzzi
as Stratonice
Brian Croucher
as Melior
Marilù Tolo
as Xenia
Ned Beatty
as Diomed
Brian Blessed
as Olinthus
Franco Nero
as Arbaces
Lesley-Anne Down
as Chloe
Nicholas Clay
as Glaucus
Siobhán McKenna
as Fortunata
Ernest Borgnine
as Marcus
Olivia Hussey
as Ione
